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BBQ Tour of America’s South

Matt and Ted Lee set out on a 3,000-mile odyssey to explore the contours of American barbecue.

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Rating: 5 out of 5 by EveryTrail members

Difficulty: Easy

Duration: Multiple days

Family Friendly

Overview:
Every morsel of barbecue tells a story, starting with the meat: if it’s sausage, you’re in or around Austin, Texas. Mutton? Owensboro,... more » Kentucky. Whole hog might be eastern North Carolina, western Tennessee, or upstate South Carolina, depending on which hardwoods you’re using and how you seasoned your pork. Did the pit master put a dry rub of black pepper and salt on it before laying it over the coals? Did he baste it once it was on the heat, and if so, with what kind of liquid? Did he turn the pig before it was done, and did he dress it with sauce before it was served? Every decision a contemporary pit master makes might be rooted in tradition, in the choices our ancestors made; and even today these regional differences hold up. less «

Points of Interest

Few champion pit masters have achieved the level of celebrity of Mike Mills, whose postmodern barn on a strip of suburban sprawl provides a range of regional styles.

Address:
1711 W. Hwy. 50
O’Fallon, Illinois
United States

Phone:
(618) 622-1717

2. A & R Bar-B-Q

Prepare yourself for the best traditional Memphis-style ribs ever—flat-out sensational. The velvety, succulent meat at A&R simply glides away from the bone. Go for the dry (not basted in sauce) version so you can appreciate the complexity of seasoning, primarily a result of the residual smoke lingering in the pits out back. The rib-tip... More sandwich here is moist, with lingering smoke, and all too easy to eat. As a palate cleanser, get a square of Technicolor sheet cake, available in chocolate, lemon, or strawberry with matching or contrasting frosting. You won’t be sorry.

Inside this circa-1920’s institution, a snaking line stretches to the door. While waiting, watch as the workers: pulling a whole brisket, blackened and quivering, from the white-enameled brick smoker; throwing down a broad sheet of red butcher paper; slapping on it a few slices of Wonder bread followed by a generous heaping of brisket ribbons;... More piling a fistful of steaming, thick-cut fries on top; then rolling the heaping mass into a package the size of a swaddled newborn. Arthur Bryant’s serves the best: brisket beautifully marbled, lightly smoky; pork ribs perfectly moist, not too salty; the sauce, rust-colored, almost gritty with dried spices, with a delectable Worcestershire-coriander inflection and a brisk vinegar bite. But since the taste, the texture, the flavor is so tied to a sense of place, it stands to reason that the way the establishment envelops you in the process—and its past—matters.

Buy the region’s specialties, snoots, at this takeout window frequented by a steady stream of locals. Like oversize pork rinds, the texture of a rice cake, the snoots are sluiced with a tomatoey sauce that had the right amount of sweetness and heat cutting through its deeply porky hit. Take the platter to the park below the Gateway Arch to enjoy.

... MoreAddress:
4390 Jennings Station Rd.
St. Louis, Missouri
United States

Located in the thick of honky-tonk bars on Music City’s tourist strip, Jack’s Bar-B-Que nevertheless draws local rockabilly kids and alt- country scenesters for remarkable beef brisket, pork ribs, and smoked chicken.

The apotheosis of Owensboro’s micro- regional mutton ’cue. Order it sliced and chopped—always with “dip”—and in a meaty burgoo (a rustic Kentucky stew).

Address:
2840 W. Parrish Ave.
Owensboro, Kentucky
United States

Phone:
(270) 684-8143

11. Oklahoma Joe’s BBQ

Beyond the shamrock gas station’s pumps and past the racks of Hostess cakes, a warren of tables and booths makes up this barbecue joint. Oklahoma Joe’s began life on competitive BBQ circuit in the early 90’s as the Slaughterhouse Five, a team of barbecue enthusiasts who got together to cook at weekend championships around the Midwest and the South... More. The team won so many awards that by 1996, they opened a restaurant. Compared with Kans as City institutions like the circa-1920 Arthur Bryant’s, O.J.’s was a modern place, using state-of-the-art smokers that cook meat with a combination of natural gas and wood.

North Carolina’s legendary pit master Ed Mitchell presides over this airy restaurant in a former meatpacking warehouse. (White tablecloth at a ’cue joint?You bet.) The house specialty is the region’s classic chopped pork, hacked from a whole pit-smoked, butterflied hog basted with a vinegary, peppery barbecue sauce. Though Mitchell still wears his... More trademark overalls, the place is a barbecue joint for a new age: the kitchen is a spotless, open, stainless-steel affair at the back of a dining room with—you guessed it!—white tablecloths. All the meats—and, one presumes, the fish and barbecued tofu—are organic, humanely raised specimens.

Address:
328 W. Davie St.
Raleigh, North Carolina
United States

Phone:
(919) 890-4500Less

19. Union Station-A Wyndham Historic Hotel

Housed in a former train station, with spacious, whimsically decorated rooms.

Address:
1001 Broadway
Nashville, Tennessee
United States

Phone:
(615) 726-1001

20. Wilber’s

This BBQ mecca opens at 6 a.m. for breafast brains and eggs; country ham; grits. The pork is ready closer to 10 a.m. and is worth the wait. Sit in one of the knotty pine-paneled rooms, with wooden schoolhouse chairs and red-checked tablecloths to chow down on their perfect sandwiches.

Address:
4172 U.S. Hwy. 70 E.
Goldsboro, North Carolina
United... More States

Phone:
(919) 778-5218Less

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